The Crocodile's Gift
by JollyMyRoger
Summary: Emma finds a trophy in Gold's shop. (I am so sorry I cannot write a summary for the life of me)


"What the hell is that?" Emma's voice snapped Gold out of his pondering as he surveyed some ingredients, probably for another potion. He turned and followed her finger to the bookshelf and the particular item she was pointing at. She was pretty sure that she knew what it was, but there was a severe point of rage sitting right under the surface right now and she wanted to make sure she was right before she let it explode.

"Ah, that," he replied serenely, walking over to bookshelf and picking up the offending object and practically brandishing it at her, "This would happen to be my oldest trophy, dearie. The left hand of Captain Hook." His smile was like a shark's, but he saw a twitch of concern in his eyes. Good.

She strode over to him, her rage had exploded like a rush of icy water, flooding her with a calm assurance she was actually impressed by. "Preservation spell?" she asked, gesturing towards the hand, the question was honestly answered by looking at the hand itself, three hundred years old and it looked like it had been removed five minutes ago.

"Yes, of course. And in perfect working order, minus the fact that it happens to be missing an arm. Would you like me to gift wrap it for you?"

Her shocked at his easy offering of the hand to her must have shown on her face. Gold sighed and then grabbed a clean white cloth from the nearby table, wrapped the hand in it, and offered it to her. Emma reached out and took it warily, "What's the catch?"

"There is none, Miss Swan. I owe you a great deal. I happen to owe Hook a great deal as well, he not only convinced you to right his wrong, but he reminded me in passing how clever Belle is and that made me realize I was not treating her that way," he sighed, gripping his cane tightly, admitting Hook had helped him and been right had obviously taken a lot out of his pride. "He would never allow me to reattach it, but I have full confidence in your abilities, Miss Swan. After all, you did restore Belle's memories in seconds flat."

And with that, Gold turned and walked back over to his ingredients, closing the conversation. Emma stood there for a minute longer before finally leaving, a quiet thank you slipping through her lips. She left the shop and headed down to the docks, it had been months since Killian had gotten here but he still spent a ridiculous amount of time down there. Emma supposed he must still be acclimating to life in Storybrooke, which might be a useless venture with the beans growing well and the chance to go back to the Enchanted Forest a very real possibility.

Once she stepped up onto the deck of the ship, she was jarred out of her thoughts by the sound of voices. She quickly recognized them as David, Henry, and Hook's. She smiled, still not entirely sure how the friendship between Prince Charming and Captain Hook had come around, probably because of Henry, but there it was. She headed over to the helm and saw them all lounging around on the odd trio of chairs that Hook had started keeping up there. Upon seeing her, Henry sprang to his feet and ran over, hugging her and calling her mom, something she still wasn't used to. David stood up, smiling her name and asking how it was going. And Killian just stood up and gave a little bow, he'd finally started wearing normal clothes, but of a very specific type. Black or red dress shirts, dark blue jeans, black combat boots, and always with a leather jacket.

"Hey...guys," she greeted them awkwardly, hugging Henry with one arm, the other had Killian's hand in her's and she kept it a bit of a distance from Henry. "Um, could I speak to Hook alone? We have something private to discuss."

Henry stepped back and eyed her, then turned to Hook and did the same, before shrugging and blandly saying, "Sure. Gramps and I haven't gotten to Granny's for breakfast yet and I'm hungry."

David smiled knowingly, which was infuriating, and walked down off the ship, Henry went with him as David walked by him. Emma couldn't decide if she should be glad they were back to their Sunday morning ritual, or worried David hadn't said anything. She looked back at Hook, at a loss for what to say.

"Something private, love?" Hook smirked as he took a few steps closer, "Oh I love the sound of tha-"

"Do you want your hand back?" Emma interrupted, the words just spilling out of her like vomit. Totally uncontrollable, tactless, and not really expected.

The salacious look on his face turned to one of shock, he'd honestly looked less surprised than that one time the toast had popped out of the toaster when he was bent down and inspecting it. "I-uh. What?" he managed.

"Look, Gold owed me, still owes me," she said shakily, unwrapping the hand and holding it up, "He had taken it as a trophy and preserved it. He, uh, he," she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, feeling short of breath and forged on, "He said I could do it. I could reattach your hand. But it's your choice, Hook."

He stared at the hand, his hand, for a few seconds before looking up and meeting her eyes. "Wouldn't be much of a Captain Hook without my hook, would I?" he ventured.

Emma tilted her head to the side, eyeing him closely before replying, "Nah. I like Killian better, suits you."

A wide smile broke over his face like the sun through the clouds after the storm and within seconds his jacket was off, his sleeve rolled up, and the apparatus holding his hook on had hit the deck. She walked over and lined up the stumps of his hand and his arm, then touched them together, all her focus was bent on them reuniting and him being whole again. She could tell he shivered but the world faded out for a moment and she felt power rush through her and with a little crackling snap the only evidence that Killian had ever been missing a hand was the thin red line around his wrist.

They both laughed a bit then, Emma in surprise and Killian in delight. "I did it!" she exclaimed.

"I never doubted you would, love," he said with complete honesty, rolling his fingers about and still smiling like a kid on Christmas.

With him looking so happy, she had to wonder.. "Killian, why didn't you just say yes right off the bat? You obviously really wanted your hand back, why did you..." she trailed off, puzzling the question out before a realization dawned, "Were you...asking my approval to have your hand back?"

"Aye, love," he quietly replied and shrugged, unabashed, "If you didn't want me to have it back...if you didn't think I deserved it..."

"Oh, Killian..."

"But you did, and that's all that matters," he stated, his voice prideful and wearing a superior expression, then his eyes glinted with a look that made her blush, "And now this is all that matters."

He closed the last of the distance separating them and reached up, his left hand going behind her head and his right under her chin and he pulled her into a kiss. Emma would never, ever admit how amazing it felt to feel him hold onto her with both hands, one teasing under her jaw, his other tangling in her hair. She reached up and wrapped her hands around the back of his head, the world fading away. She figured this was going to be one of the most memorable days of her life, and it was only 9 AM on a Sunday in Storybrooke.


End file.
